The 4400
by soraxtsuna123
Summary: It has been two years since Ponyboy Curtis has dispeared. All hope of finding him were gone until a comet started to plummet down to the earth.When the comet had landed 4400 people appeared from the comet. The 4400 were the ones who had disappeared.But none of them had aged since the day they disappeared and some of them had gained a special ability. Based off of the show The 4400
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders nor the small idea I am using from the show The 4400.**

**o-o-o**

Another crash of glass made the boy that was sitting outside on a wooden bench flinch. He wished he could go inside with his gang, but Darry told him not to enter because he was "too young". Ponyboy Curtis sighed and flipped to another page in his novel that was held tightly in his hands. He combed his fingers through his greased auburn hair.

"Sure is still loud out here…" Another boy muttered.

"I wonder why we still had to come even though we have to wait out here for them. They are probably just in there playing pool or chatting up some skimpy broads," Ponyboy complained, rolling his green-grey eyes. "We could have been watching a movie, or something. What would you like to do in the meantime, Johnny?"

Johnny shook his head in uncertainty. He was never the one to really make the decisions.

Another half an hour passed and the other members of the gang did not leave Buck's.

"Seriously, how long are they going to be in there? Did they forget about us or something?" Ponyboy asked as he flipped to another page in his nearly finished book.

"Want me to go check?" Johnny asked, standing up. Ponyboy just shrugged and Johnny ran over to the front doors and slipped inside.

Ponyboy went back to his book. But it was not long until he was interrupted. A bright, golden light shone on him like a spotlight, making his attention to snap towards the source. As soon as his eyes looked upwards he froze. He could not move. The light shone from the sky, and no matter how hard Ponyboy tried to pry his attention away, he was too mesmerized to look away. The light seemed to get brighter as the seconds passed. It looked like something was reaching towards Ponyboy.

A book fell onto the seat of the bench; the owner was out of sight like he disappeared in thin air. The light dimed away as if it was never there at all.

Johnny stepped out of the bar a minute later. "They said to wait another half-" Ponyboy was not there. "Ponyboy?"

Johnny jogged over to the bench and picked up the book. His eyes grew wide with worry. Ponyboy would never leave a book behind like this. Johnny ran back to the bar.

**o-o-o**

Two years had passed since the youngest greaser of their gang has disappeared. There had been no clue as to where he was taken. Ever since then, the gang has been quieter. It just was not the same without Ponyboy. Soda had stopped smiling as much and always seemed out of it, Johnny does not let out even a peep anymore, Two-Bit started to drink more from stress, Steve took all of his time in trying to convince Soda to do stuff with him, Dally visited the Curtis house less, and Darry started to work less in hopes Ponyboy would pop up at the doorsteps.

It seemed strange that Ponyboy, someone who hardly spoke to the others, was the string that held them together.

Two years.

Ponyboy would have been sixteen by now.

"Soda, do you want to watch the comet that will be passing by tonight?" Steve asked.

Soda sighed. "Sure. I'm sure Pony would have loved to see it."

It was Steve's turn to sigh in exasperation. "I'm sure he would, but you should stop hanging yourself on him. Kid's gone. But knowing him, he'll annoyingly come back."

"Two years, Steve! What are the chances of him coming back?"

"You guys are so loud!" Two-Bit whined as he trudged out of the bathroom. His hand was placed on his forehead as he tried to shake off the nausea.

"Sorry, Two-Bit…"

The day slowly passed and night was coming up. In that time, Johnny and Dally walked in the house together. They must have been close by. Darry walking in the living room and yawned.

"You all going to see the comet?" Dally asked.

"Eh, I think I'm going to watch some Mickey," Two-Bit replied.

Steve and Soda nodded as well as Darry. Johnny did the same.

"Anyone know what time it should be passing?" Steve asked. But no one needed to answer.

"Have you ever seen a star that bright?" Someone from another house asked loudly. The remaining gang members, minus Two-Bit walked outside. They all looked at the sky and was astonished at the sight. Never before, besides Johnny, had they paid attention to the sky. Billions upon billions of stars were scattered across the dark sky. Each one was just as bright as the others. But one stood out compared to the rest. This one was planted right in the center of the stars. It shone a hundred times brighter than the rest.

"Is that the comet?" Soda asked. "Aren't they supposed to be moving?"

The gang just stood gaping at the star. They had all seen one comet in their lifetime, but none of the comets had stayed in place like the one they are observing now.

"Hey! What happened to Mickey?!" Two-Bit screamed. Darry sighed and walked in the house to check up on Keith.

"What is it?" Darry asked.

"The news switched of Mickey!"

Darry looked at the screen. The TV now portrayed a male reporter with a worried look on his face. Darry walked to the TV and turned to knob to change the channel. The channel knob must have moved and changed the channel. But the same news reporter was on the next channel. Darry turned to each of the few channels the TV would offer. All of them were the same.

"_The comet that was supposed to be flying passed the earth has somehow changed course. I know what you are all thinking. 'Comets can't change course!' But it has. It is now coming towards Earth at an accelerating speed. It will hit down in about twenty minutes. If something so large and fast hits earth… I don't even want to think about it." The reporter spoke._

"Everyone. Inside!" Darry ordered. Everyone rushed in quickly at the tone Darry used. His tone was full of urgency. He motioned towards the TV where the reported had his hand on his ear.

"_It's just in. China and Russia had shot their missiles at the comet. America will be next."_

"What's going on?" Johnny asked.

"The comet changed course towards Earth." Darry explained.

The screen changed over to another reporter that was outside. Behind her was the sky. She turned around when the missiles from America were shot and everyone watched them rocket to the sky.

The screen changed back to the front desk.

"_We had just gotten news that the each missile hit their target, but it was all futile. The comet is still going as fast as ever."_

"What's going to happen?" Soda asked.

"_The comet has once again changed course. It is now directly going down to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa residence, prepare and I am sorry."_

Everyone's eyes widened at the news.

"We're all going to die…" Steve mumbled.

"_What? How's that possible?" _The newsman had a troubled look on his face as he was being talked to through his headpiece. _"Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem that the comet had slowed down…like it is landing… We had gotten the location of where the comet would land, we will switch out for that camera."_

The screen changed to a fielded area. Cops and other agencies were already there waiting. The camera looked at the larger light as it came closer. The screen shook as the cameraman looked upwards in fear. You can now see the comet as a large glowing blue and white ball. It slowly drifted down and hover thirty feet from the ground.

Everything went silent.

"_What's it doing?" A random agent asked to no-one-in-particular._

The comet started to grow smaller until it became a small ball. Then it grew big, the spherical shape turned into a bright light that consumed everything, its force pushed everyone back causing the camera to turn off.

"_What happened?"_ _The man in the front desk yelled as he popped up again._ Then the camera back at the spot turned back on. The ball of light was gone and in replacement there were clouds of dust. People started to get up from the ground one by one.

"_What the hell?" The cameraman said and pointed it towards the dust_. In the dust were the silhouettes of people. The dust started to clear away and everyone gasped. Thousands of people were standing in the middle of the field, each one of them looking around with confused faces. The camera zoomed in on the people and then the camera passed by one person and Johnny gasped in surprise.

"What is it, Johnny?" Dally asked.

"Ponyboy… he's there…" Johnny answered, eyes locked on the screen.


	2. Chapter 2

Ponyboy looked around. Where was he? Who were all these people? Each one of them looked just as surprised as the next. Asking what had happened would be out of the question.

The people around him all wore clothes from different places and time periods. There was a girl wearing clothes that looked like it was from the 30s, a african man wearing Rwandan clothes, Chinese children in rags, and so on.

Cameras were pointed at us. Were they on TV? What the heck is going on? Behind the cameras were more people, looking startled. Then they went into action with a command.

"Turn off the cameras!" A man in a suit ordered. The cameras lowered and he stepped forward. "Each one of you, come with me. You are under quarantine until we understand what the hell is going on!" Ponyboy knew from the tone to listen and he followed him with the group of confused people.

They were all forced in vehicles, Ponyboy being one of the first in being in a car, and left. A lot of them were left behind to wait for the next volley of rides.

"Where are you taking us?" An older, balding man, that sat next to him asked after gaining enough courage. The agent did not speak. A half hour had passed and no one spoke a word. They were now coming up on a large, fenced-off building with guards standing around it. Ponyboy's blood ran cold. They were going to lock them up in there.

The car parked and the agent stepped out. Guards came up to the car and opened the doors, grappling their hands on their arms and pushed them out towards the building.

The inside looked no different than the rest. It looked like a prison, minus the small cells.

"This way," a guard barked. They led them through a metal detector where Ponyboy had to give up his switch-blade. They were then changed into a oversized white shirt with a beige jacket that Ponyboy buttoned up. They all were given greenish-tinged pants.

The building was now flooded with others dressed like him. Hardly any of them spoke to one another as they were led to a larger room with a few tables and a few chairs to sit on. The walls and tiled floors were beige and the only windows were small slits near the ceiling. There were also a few television sets scattered around on the floor. On one wall there were glass windows where stools were set up. Ponyboy knew what those were for. He had often used them to talk to Dally when he was in prison.

The doors behind the group closed. One person tried to open them, but they were locked.

_How long are they going to keep us in here? _Ponyboy thought as he walked over to a seat. _I want to see my brothers again…_

As time passed, people started to get dragged out of the room one-by-one then come back.

A guard walked up to Ponyboy. "Come with me."

Ponyboy did not object and walked with him. It was better than sitting in the chair for hours, possibly days. He was led to a room where he was instructed to sit on a stool in front of a camera.

"Hello, can you state your name and age, please?" The man behind the camera asked.

"Ponyboy Curtis. I'm 14 years old," Ponyboy stated, getting a weird look after he said his name. He probably thought he was joking. "And, yes, that is my name, sir."

"Can you tell me what year it is?"

It was Ponyboy's turn to give him a weird look. "Why would you ask that?"

"Please answer the question."

"1966."

The man nodded to another in the room as if to confirm.

"Son, it's 1968."

"No, it's not… I was just at school and wrote the date down on my paper yesterday."

"Two years had passed since then."

"Two years couldn't have passed."

"It did."

"What was I doing in two years?"

"You tell me. What do you remember?"

Ponyboy put a hand on his chin as if to think. His eyes were narrowed as if he was trying to peer at the back of his mind for answers. "I was sitting in front of a bar waiting for the gang to come out. My friend, Johnny, went in to check on them, then I was surrounded by all of those people."

"Can you try to remember?"

Ponyboy nodded slightly then closed his eyes, trying to recall something. Anything that happened that night. Nothing. He shook his head.

"Alright. You may go back now."

The guards came in and took Ponyboy back into the stuffed room. More and more left and came back until no more were called. Ponyboy tapped his fingers against the wall to the tune of _I want to Hold Your Hand _by the Beatles. The television sets have long been shut off for the curtesy of others.

"I'm telling you! Let us out!" A voice exclaimed piercing through the silence. Ponyboy's attention, as well as many others, snapped towards him. Sitting in one of the talk booths was that man I sat next to on the way here. His face was filled with rage, knuckles had turned white as they curled around the table. "I am a certified American citizen! I know my rights! You can't keep up locked up in here for your personal experiments."

The agent on the other side flinched, probably agreeing. Ponyboy turned back around and continued to tap to another song.

A few days later a young boy ran up to him with a large smile on his face. "We're getting out! They're letting us out!"

Ponyboy's eyes widened. "What? Really?"

"Yeah! They called all of our relatives to pick us up!"

Ponyboy stood up, smile now on his face.

The large doors opened and Ponyboy had never seen a group of people try to run out of a room besides on the last day of school before summer break. Excited screams escaped a few lips.

It was soon where everyone was near the door and found more waiting. Around Ponyboy, people started to run off and hug others, letting out tears. Ponyboy scanned the crowd, searching for any familiar faces.

"Soda!" Ponyboy exclaimed once he saw his brother in the waiting crowd. The pretty-boy turned around at the call of his name and his face lit up brighter than a thousand suns. Ponyboy ran at him, swerving around others. Behind Soda, others also turned around. The gang.

The bodies collided and arms wrapped around Ponyboy in a giant hug.

"Look at you, you haven't aged a bit!"

"Look at you, you aged a lot!"

"Ponyboy, it's been two years."

They all chuckled, glad to be reunited again.

**o-o-o**

**Thank you _BumbleBee456, Guest, GinaRogers, SaiyanPrincess, Trixdelatrix, _and _basketball lover99 _for reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

It would seem like nothing would change in just two years. For Ponyboy, it did not feel right at all. Nothing really changed physically, but Ponyboy felt like everything was out of place. For him, he only left for a second then kept away from everyone for a few days. It felt weird—out of place—to have your family, friends, and people that you knew since you were born look at you with astonishment and relief in their eyes. They treated him like he has been gone for years, which he really has. Everything felt wrong. The atmosphere was all wrong.

Ponyboy looked up towards the sky. He was seated on the edge of the patio, legs drooping off the ledge. It was the only place where he could be alone now. Since he had disappeared, Darry had been keeping full watch on him, never letting him be alone. He does not want the same thing to happen again. The sky was sunny, yet cloudy. It was an awkward weather. He was in an awkward life. It portrayed him well.

"Hey," a voice greeted. Ponyboy looked back towards the screen door. Darry stood there leaning against the frame.

"Hi," Ponyboy answered back, turning his attention back to the sky which was starting to explode in colors.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking."

"About what happened?"

Ponyboy hummed in response. For a couple of beats, no one talking; no one moved. Darry shuffled behind him.

"They're making a really big deal about us," Ponyboy said. The 'us' was meant to represent the 4400. Ever since the day of the comet, the news had been going on and on about them. Rumors and theories were being made and shared. The first and the most booming theory was that the aliens abducted them and experimented on them. It seemed like everyone succumbed to the idea and grew scared of them. Many want the 4400 to go back into quarantine.

"Of course they are. Everyone who had disappeared into thin air was found in the same day."

"But why must they make rumors. None of them makes sense. Why would we be abducted by aliens and brought back down?"

"Just let your head rest, Ponyboy. You have a long day coming tomorrow."

Ponyboy spun around. "What do you mean?"

"You're going back to school, tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"Believe it or not, but you never completed your years in high school. You're still technically 14."

His stomach dropped. Darry was right, he would have to go back to school. But was that the right thing to do? "I don't think that I should…"

"And why's that?"

"People are telling _us _to be locked up. They fear us, Darry."

"I doubt they fear you. They are just uneasy."

Ponyboy looked at Darry with pleading eyes, knowing that words cannot change the decision. But his expression was stolid. "You're going," he repeated and left to make sure he does not change his mind. Ponyboy groaned and turned back around. Rain started to pelt down onto the ground, growing harder by each passing second. Ponyboy scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. When had it started raining? Clouds could not have formed and gathered this quickly. He decided to let it pass and walk back inside. On the way to his room, he made sure not make eye contact with Darry.

The next day came sooner than Ponyboy wanted it too. He was woken up by the sound of Two-Bit screaming in his ear. He shot up from bed.

"What!?" Ponyboy asked, panicked but then calmed down, ears turned a bit red, when Keith started to burst out laughing.

"You should see your face!"

"Oh, shut it, Two-Bit!" After many minutes of Two-Bit trying to compose himself, Ponyboy asked, "What do you want?"

"Darry told me to drive you to school since he left to go to work."

Ponyboy nodded, pulling off his white shirt and replacing it with one of the cleaner ones. Two-Bit left the room and Ponyboy changed out of his sweats into jeans, pulled on his white, hi-tops, and put a thin, cotton jacket over his shirt. He left the room and headed to the bathroom; greasing his hair and brushing his teeth. Once he had finished getting ready, Ponyboy left the bathroom and swung his newly-found backpack over his shoulders.

Johnny was waiting outside when they left the house. He gave a small smile to Ponyboy as they entered the rusting automobile. The closer that they got to school, the tighter of a knot that forms in Ponyboy's stomach and the harder the rain pelted on the vehicle.

As Two-Bit pulled into the parking lot, the car lurched to one side, creaking. "Whoa, this storm…" Two-Bit muttered.

Ponyboy reached towards the door handle, placing all of his weight on the door. The car door slowly opened and Ponyboy stumbled out, quickly grabbing his backpack before the door slammed shut by the wind. The next one out was Two-Bit, who had to hold it open for Johnny to climb out. The rain hurt against Ponyboy's skin and it was hard to stand still in the wind. He pulled up the hood of his thin jacket over his head and the three greasers ran towards the school. The first place that the three went was the office. We walked up to the counter where a woman sat looking through files. She looked up, an annoyed looked passed through her eyes before she smiled.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Uh, hi…um, I'm Ponyboy Curtis," Ponyboy introduced awkwardly. The woman's face lit up and she nodded.

"Ah, yes. You're one of the 4400. One second." She opened a cabinet, sliding out a folder and looked in it. "Alight, welcome back Mr. Curtis. Here's your new schedule and new locker."

"Thank you," Ponyboy said, taking the two slips of paper. Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Johnny walked out of the office and down the hallway. Other students looked at Ponyboy after noticing that he got out of the office. The hallways were unnaturally quiet. The students whispered amongst each other.

"Is he one of them?"

"Yeah, he must be! Why else would he be attending this school now?

"Didn't he go here though? Like two years back? He was in my class, I think… Yeah! He was the one that disappeared."

"Why are they letting him back in his school? He's going to get us all killed!"

"They should have just shot down all of them…"

Ponyboy looked at his feet, pushing his way through the crowd with Two-Bit and Johnny at tow. People pushed back as if Ponyboy was infectious. Ponyboy was almost to his locker when a football player stepped in front of him. He growled and grabbed Ponyboy's shirt, slamming him against the lockers.

"Hey, freak! What are you doing here?!" The jock screamed, growling. Ponyboy struggled against his hold, but it only tightened. "Go back to where you came from!"

"Hey!" Two-Bit exclaimed, pulling the jock off of the smaller greaser. The jock clenched his teeth tightly, staring down Keith before looking at Ponyboy then at Johnny. As soon as he came, the jock left, grumbling. Two-Bit looked at Ponyboy. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, readjusting his backpack and started to walk again. The three had to separate to get to their own individual classes. Well Johnny and he did. Two-Bit was probably going to try sneaking into the girl's locker room again. Luckily, only the teacher was in the classroom at that moment. Ponyboy walked to him and handed him the schedule.

"Ah, Mr. Curtis. So nice for you to join. We opened a seat for you." The teacher smiled and pointed to a desk near the front of the class. Ponyboy nodded his thanks, sitting down. The bell rung soon after and students filled in the classroom. As the seats quickly filled up, Ponyboy could feel stares being sent to him. They recognized him. But none of them approached; send harsh whispered to friends. It was not even an hour into the class when the girl that sat behind be started to whisper loud enough for the whole class to hear.

"Hey, Macy…" She hissed out. "I'm scared… He's going to get us all killed! He's an alien so his people will track him down. We'll be the first to die."

"Yeah… and think about what he can do if they experimented on him…" Macy answered back.

"He's a murderer…a killer…"

Ponyboy bit his lip. Each word that was spat out stung. His hands tightened around his worn-out, wooden pencil.

"He will be the reason the world ends."

Ponyboy closed his eyes in concentration, trying to block out the commentary. He could slightly hear cracking but that was muffled by the sound of the girls.

"He should just die…"

Then the windows exploded and gusts of wind pushed the glass towards the screaming students.

**o-o-o**

**Sorry that took so long to update :( I've been so busy. I had so much homework and I have my midterms coming up this week. Then the week after that are my exit exams which determines if I will be able to graduate in a few years. Then I also had to take these stupid SAT classes which I felt stupid in. So much stress. But now that the classes are over, I can probably update faster…unless my parents pay for another month… That would suck. Also I didn't look over this chapter so sorry if I have mistakes.**

**Also, if you have an account and are the first to review what reference I used in this chapter, you will win an Outsider's one-shot dedicated to you and written by me. The topic would be of your choice and we can talk about that with PMs. So, yeah! This short event will end when I update the next chapter.**

**REPLIES:**

**SaiyanPrincess: Sorry for not putting the homecoming in debt. I just thought I should take a large leap in my fanfiction instead of small steps.**

**The Curtis Crew: YEAH!**

**Tmntlover2013: Thank you. I hoped you liked this chapter.**

**Trizdelatrix: What can I say? I'm pretty lazy. I kind of was like "Whatever, I'll post this now… I'll put more in the next chapter." But I didn't. :/ Oh well. Sorry for the wait. **


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